I’ve been revisiting Beowulf here with John Halbrooks. The great hero was a late bloomer. Nobody thought he’d amount to anything. Not quite the same as leaving a previous career or two, but related. Beowulf encountered the right champion and the right challenge.
I didn't know this about Vera Wang (I don't like wedding dresses) but how fascinating. I've been a late bloomers all my life, still am at 55, and much of what you say here resonates deeply.
At the beginning you say that late bloomers often don’t know what they’re preparing for and work blindly towards their goals, but the advice you distil from Audrey Sutherland and Chris Gardner seems more deterministic: you need a goal and you need to ask yourself what’s the next step.
Looking at all your examples though, are you saying it’s less about the specific goal, and more about the style of living within a life where you’ll inevitably have some goals? I struggle to put a word to it: an openness perhaps? An outwardness? With Audrey Sutherland and Chris Gardner, for example, it’s not specifically what they achieve that I think worth emulating (I want to be neither a stockbroker nor a kayaker), but more how they achieve it, within the context of their lives. It’s like there’s a freedom there despite the fact they had enormous challenges and constraints.
It feels to me like in all the examples you give, the people are driven, but not necessarily driven by a single ‘thing’ that would define them, rather they are driven to explore – with some intensity – what they find before them. And so when new opportunities arrive, they do them, they know what to do next. That’s not to say they knew what would work. They could never have known that. But it’ll turn out in the retelling that’s what it was. And of course, we hear their stories and love them. I’d be tempted to call that some form of virtue, but I’m not sure that’s right.
This post feels very apt to me today. So many of the people I write about did their most notable work in later life. That's something to celebrate, and it's great that your forthcoming book does just that.
It’s weird, foreign for me to think of it this way! I’m not old, by any means. I’m 24. I think of myself, and am referred to as a “late bloomer”. It’s hopeful for me to think of it as ‘just keep pushing’ - keep exploring! It’s hard to accept as in the age and generation of the internet that I can take it slow? Thank you, food for thought forsure!
I’ve been revisiting Beowulf here with John Halbrooks. The great hero was a late bloomer. Nobody thought he’d amount to anything. Not quite the same as leaving a previous career or two, but related. Beowulf encountered the right champion and the right challenge.
Henry, this is first-rate writing. It's given me a lot of food for thought.
I didn't know this about Vera Wang (I don't like wedding dresses) but how fascinating. I've been a late bloomers all my life, still am at 55, and much of what you say here resonates deeply.
Living my second act now as a late- blooming writer. Great piece!
Terrific article. You write very well. Its universal message resonates Whitman’s advice to “seize the day.” Thanks.
This stuff is so fascinating.
At the beginning you say that late bloomers often don’t know what they’re preparing for and work blindly towards their goals, but the advice you distil from Audrey Sutherland and Chris Gardner seems more deterministic: you need a goal and you need to ask yourself what’s the next step.
Looking at all your examples though, are you saying it’s less about the specific goal, and more about the style of living within a life where you’ll inevitably have some goals? I struggle to put a word to it: an openness perhaps? An outwardness? With Audrey Sutherland and Chris Gardner, for example, it’s not specifically what they achieve that I think worth emulating (I want to be neither a stockbroker nor a kayaker), but more how they achieve it, within the context of their lives. It’s like there’s a freedom there despite the fact they had enormous challenges and constraints.
It feels to me like in all the examples you give, the people are driven, but not necessarily driven by a single ‘thing’ that would define them, rather they are driven to explore – with some intensity – what they find before them. And so when new opportunities arrive, they do them, they know what to do next. That’s not to say they knew what would work. They could never have known that. But it’ll turn out in the retelling that’s what it was. And of course, we hear their stories and love them. I’d be tempted to call that some form of virtue, but I’m not sure that’s right.
This post feels very apt to me today. So many of the people I write about did their most notable work in later life. That's something to celebrate, and it's great that your forthcoming book does just that.
Henry, thanks for such a thought provoking and uplifting piece. Looking forward to reading more!
I've had the pleasure of meeting Chris Gardner. Inspirational man, I left that dinner buzzing at the possibilities in the world.
It’s weird, foreign for me to think of it this way! I’m not old, by any means. I’m 24. I think of myself, and am referred to as a “late bloomer”. It’s hopeful for me to think of it as ‘just keep pushing’ - keep exploring! It’s hard to accept as in the age and generation of the internet that I can take it slow? Thank you, food for thought forsure!
Loved this. Preordering the book!